Turkey as a gatekeeper to Europe? The Joint-Action Agreement two month down the line

With Turkey currently regarded as the key to solving – or at least abating and restricting the refugee crisis outside the borders of the EU – former cracks in EU-Turkey relations have been swiftly smoothed over. Turkey knows of its current indispensability and arguably Europe needs Turkey more than vice versa. The balance of power has shifted significantly in favour of Turkey. But this new transactional nature in the relationship has led to a muting of other crucial debates such as human rights abuses, particularly in the Kurdish region, attacks on freedom of speech and developments towards an increasingly authoritarian leadership.